This time, Bulls win in OT
Luol Deng, still recovering from a stomach virus, had a rough shooting night Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, then was met with further insult.
After the Bulls tied the score with 20.5 seconds left in regulation on a rare 4-point play by Ben Gordon, the Clippers went with this option for the final possession: Second-year forward Al Thornton isolated 1-on-1 against Deng.
It wasn't a bad idea, considering Thornton had outscored Deng 20-5 to that point, but he missed a 16-foot jumper just before the buzzer.
"I was (insulted)," Deng said after the game. "I'm confident in my defense. I just had to try to make him take a tough shot. I kind of read the play, then once he caught it, I tried not to let him get to the basket."
Then Deng came back with his specialty, consecutive midrange jumpers that sent the Bulls into the lead. They went on to post a 115-109 victory at the United Center by scoring the last 9 points of overtime. The Bulls lost in overtime the previous night in Charlotte.
"I just stuck with it," said Deng, who missed 7 of 8 shots in regulation. "I just really wanted to win the game. We didn't want to lose two (in a row) in overtime, so it was a good win for us."
Gordon and Andres Nocioni scored 22 points each to lead the Bulls (12-13). Clippers power forward Zach Randolph overcame a slow start to finish with 30 points, while center Marcus Camby piled up a career-high 27 rebounds to go with 19 points.
The Bulls were teetering on the brink of defeat late in regulation. While coach Vinny Del Negro stubbornly stuck to a small front line of Deng, Nocioni and Drew Gooden, Randolph scored 6 straight points, then fed Thornton for a layup to put the Clippers ahead 102-101 with 1:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.
After Derrick Rose had a driving layup blocked, Camby tipped in a Randolph miss to stretch the advantage to 3. Gordon hit 1 of 2 free throws, then Randolph hit a pair at the line to send the Clippers ahead by 4 with 25.1 seconds remaining.
That set up the biggest play of the game. Gordon buried a 3-point shot from the top of the key while getting hit on the left arm by Eric Gordon, the rookie from Indiana. The ensuing free throw tied the score with 20.5 seconds remaining.
"You need a little luck, need a little fortune now and then," Del Negro said. "That's the beauty of basketball. Our guys made plays."
Deng scored the Bulls' first basket of overtime at the 2:36 mark, bringing the home team within 109-108. After an exchange of misses, the Bulls caught a break when Thornton drove to the hoop and appeared to draw a foul.
But following a referees' conference, the foul became a charge against Thornton, who crashed into Nocioni.
On the other end, Deng his second jumper to give the Bulls a 1-point edge with 1:09 left. Then Nocioni drew another offensive foul by taking an elbow to the throat from Randolph.
Rose (5-for-17, 16 points), had another rough shooting night but hit driving bank over Camby and was fouled. The 3-point play stretched the lead to 4, and Larry Hughes tacked on free throws to provide the final margin.
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